<p>I’m currently a Junior in high school in a U.S. territory and UCLA is my DREAM school. I really want to get into UCLA but I know it’s one of the toughest schools to get into in the nation. Anyway, my question is: for EXTRACURRICULARS, is it best to go in depth into a FEW extracurriculars or to join many extracurriculars and not hold any positions/be outstanding in all of them?</p>
<p>Also, I have made a HORRIBLE mistake my Junior year by dropping two AP classes that I got into. I chose to remain in Honors Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry but dropped AP English III and AP U.S. History because I chose to focus on extracurriculars. BUT I am getting all A+s in my classes, compared to the low scores I would be receiving if I had challenged myself… but I still regret dropping my AP classes. Is this really considered a bad mistake if I get good grades in the courses I took?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Definitely focus on a few extracurriculars and be committed to them, over superficial involvement in a ton of activities. </p>
<p>Do the drops show up on your transcript? Perform as well as you can in the classes you are enrolled in, you can’t do anything about dropping those APs, as you won’t be able to re-enroll in them for this year (unless it’s possible for second semester?). If you haven’t taken any AP classes but your school offers them, you should sign up for a few your senior year and stay in them. It probably matters less your senior year, but you shouldn’t go overboard if you don’t think you can handle taking 5 APs at once, also it’s your senior year and you don’t want it to be miserable (remember, college apps take up a lot of time, you may have to retake the SAT/ACT, and you have to maintain a 3.0 your senior year). Try to get stellar test scores and hopefully if you chose to concentrate on your extracurriculars you’ll have a good story to tell in your essays.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot! This helped so much. :)</p>